Come September, Pat Hardy Primary School students who are sent to the principal’s office will see a new, but familiar face.

On May 29, Northern Gateway School Division announced that Jacqueline Mines, Pat Hardy’s current assistant principal, will be replacing Terry Marshall as principal. In January, Marshall announced she would be retiring at the end of this school year after 34 years in education.

Mines has been teaching in the Northern Gateway School Division for more than 23 and has experience teaching a number of subjects at the middle school level and received an Excellence in Teaching Award nomination in 2000.

Mines has also been an AISI facilitator and co-ordinator at the division level. The AISI (Alberta Initiative For School Improvement) was a project that strove to improve education by funding local projects and research to improve student learning and performance.

Since 2011, Mines has served as Pat Hardy’s assistant principal.

Northern Gateway School Division Superintendent Kevin Andrea said he was pleased to have someone with Mines’ experience take over as principal of Pat Hardy.

“Jacqueline is a passionate educator and an experienced administrator with a strong, working knowledge of all things Pat Hardy,” Andrea said. “We are excited to have her at Pat Hardy’s helm next year.”

Mines first found out that the job would be available sometime in December and after thinking about it decided to pursue it.

She said that even though being a principal is something she has thought about for sometime and that it is the next logical step in her career, she had other reasons which drew her to apply.

“I love little children and I am especially interested in this age level,” Mines said. “I love the curriculum and being able to shape students early in their school career.”

Another one of Mines’ passions that she has been able to pursue at Pat Hardy is her interest in special needs education.

Since 2011, along with being assistant principal, Mines has served as the school’s inclusive education facilitator, tasked with ensuring students that helps ensure students that have special needs get the extra support that they need.

Mines said she expects being principal will be similar to that of assistant principal.

As assistant principal, she was able to help steer the direction of the school, attend division level administration meetings and make decisions regarding the running of the school, but she said it is a matter of degree.

“The buck stops with me. It is a large responsibility,” Mines said. “I always wanted to be in the role and I am ready for the challenge.”

One of the reasons Mines is confident she is ready for the role is the strength of the teaching staff at Pat Hardy.

“At Pat Hardy we are blessed to have a super group of teachers and I know they will help me make the transition and continue to move the school forward, building on what Mrs. Marshall has done,” she said.

Whether as a teacher or administrator, Mines said she knew she wanted to be involved in education at a fairly early age.